The invention relates to integration of data processing system to allow effective and automatic data transfer. An example is a performance management system capturing data from a switch, a work force manager, and other external systems.
1. Prior Art Discussion
Various mechanisms are known for transfer of data, such as flat (ASCII) file transfer and use of APIs. However, they do not provide for very comprehensive transfer of data in a versatile and automated manner to the extent that the systems are effectively integrated.
2. Objects of the Invention
An object of the invention is to provide an integration engine which performs data transfer in a manner which is sufficiently comprehensive and xe2x80x9cintelligentxe2x80x9d to effectively integrate at least two data processing systems.
According to the invention there is provided an integration engine for transfer of source data from a data processing external system to a data processing host system, the integration engine comprising:
a configuration function comprising means for defining the external system data to be exported, mappings to be applied to the exported data, and target locations in the host system for imported data, and
an execution function comprising means for translating the mappings into executable program code, and for executing the code to import data into the host system.
In one embodiment, the configuration function comprises means for generating an external system dataset, mappings dataset, and a parameter value dataset.
In one embodiment, the configuration function comprises means for definition of target locations in the host system as data container columns.
In one embodiment, the configuration function comprises means for defining mathematical function mappings in which source data from a plurality of locations in the external system is processed.
In one embodiment, the execution function comprises means for consolidating the imported data according to persons for whom there are records in the host system.
In one embodiment, the execution function comprises means for writing the consolidated data to a plurality of data containers of which there is at least one per external system.
In one embodiment, data associated with each person is written to a single dataset in each container.
In one embodiment, the execution function comprises means for merging selected data from said containers into a single foreign data container comprising a single dataset per person.
In one embodiment, the execution function comprises means for generating interfacing with an information management function of the host system to generate output results.
In one embodiment, the configuration function comprises means for defining filtering of the source data.
In one embodiment, the configuration function comprises means for storing mapping operator statement for mapping of data from an external system to a data container.
In one embodiment, the configuration function comprises means for associating the statements 11 with parameter fields, having variable values.
In one embodiment, the host system is a performance management system and the external system is a customer services system.
According to another aspect, the invention provides a host system comprising:
an integration engine as claimed in any preceding claim,
information management functions for processing the imported data.
In one embodiment, the host system is a performance management system further comprising:
a call centre configuration function for configuring call centre parameters in a configuration dataset, and
a data dictionary function for formulating under user instructions, calculation rules, value inputs for rules, and storage parameters for database fields.
In one embodiment, the user interface, the configuration functions, and the performance management functions together have a structure of classes for instantiating objects in a user interface layer, a business logic layer, and a data services layer.
In one embodiment, the business logic class instantiates business logic objects having code of a configuration or an information function, and means for terminating the object at the end of a user session.
In one embodiment, the business logic layer executes on a business server.
In one embodiment, the data services layer comprises a class for instantiating data services objects residing on a database server and means for terminating said objects after a user session.
In one embodiment, the system comprises a transaction server for executing data services layer functions.
In one embodiment, the transaction server comprises means for maintaining a pool of data services objects together and for maintaining a pool of database connections.
In one embodiment, dynamic library links for the objects are registered using proxy stub pairs on both a client and a server.
In one embodiment, the integration engine comprises means for writing imported data to a foreign data table after execution of mappings and selection of particular fields, and in which the data is consolidated into one dataset per agent, and the information management functions comprises means for generating performance management results according to data definitions generated by the data dictionary function.